Newbie questions about booting Slackware

[Garrett Klein]

Another nice thing to do is put a line like alias=1 in your default 
Kernel image section, that way you can just press 1 then enter to 
boot. Then the next image gets a line at the end of its section, alias 
=2, then alias=3 for the next section, and so on...

Garrett

On Tue, May 11, 2004 
at 03:39:14PM -0700, Steve Holmes wrote:
> I never recalled a lot of danger warnings about lilo but quite
> frankly, I don't see how one could boot a system without it.  I guess
> one could use syslinux from floppies or something but lilo is quite
> easy to use.  Like so many other linuxish things, one should read up
> on it to get the most out of it.  The Slackware liloconfig script does
> a fine job in creating bootdisks and also a fine job at configuring
> your boot strap for your hard disk.  I've dual and single booted using
> lilo for years and never had problems with it.  Just remember to run
> lilo every time you build a new kernel or you won't boot:).
> 
> One beauty of using something like lilo is you can set up several
> entry points or labels in your lilo.conf to point to possibly
> different kernel images.  This way, you could experiment with a new
> version of a kernel or different options of such and if it fails to
> boot then just boot with your "tried and proven" version.  'man lilo'
> will give you a good explanation of lilo and how it works; also look
> at 'man lilo.conf' which will explain the various options to
> lilo.conf.
> 
> The previous comments about building a bootdisk are most valuable.  I
> have a machine at home that for some reason, won't boot off hard
> drive. - old machine with a new larger drive I guess.  The boot floppy
> saves my butt on that machine.  I've also been saved by a boot floppy
> when I screwed up my hard disk boot image.
> 
> One other thing.  When it comes to the lilo.conf file, you can put in
> those extra parameters like synth selection and any other kernel parms
> you might need to use on the image line so you could get down to a
> short name or single letter to select the boot image you want.  If you
> want any examples of lilo.conf, I'll be glad to send you one privately
> or I'll bet some others on the list would do likewise.  Then you can
> compare examples.
> 
> On Tue, May 11, 2004 at 03:04:18PM -0700, Debee Norling wrote:
> > Alex writes:
> > 
> > >You should install lilo. I'm not sure why it makes it seem like lilo
> > >is such a dangerous thing to install...I guess it's because eomeone
> > >who's dual-booting can screw up their system.
> > 
> > They should really say then that dual-booting is dangerous. The install (and
> > the current docs which I've also read for Slackware) imply you should stay
> > away from lilo and that magically, your system will boot when you're
> > finished.
> > 
> > If I was mislead, so will be others, so it's now in the Speakup archive --
> > install Lilo and ignore the warnings.
> > 
> > It's silly nowadays anyway to dual-boot; machines are so cheap that even a
> > person on fixed income can afford them. I used to be very poor and now, I
> > work  at a community college with disabled students, so I know what it means
> > to be on fixed income.
> > 
> > Our local surplus stores have 350MHZ pentiums with 3GB hard disks for
> > between 20 and 60 dollars without operating system, depending on the other
> > options like CD writer and USB. For $100, you can get a surplus (probably
> > refurbished) Pentium II with about 96MB of ram, a 4GB hard drive, a legal
> > Windows operating system and a slow CD writer. When you visit on Saturdays,
> > the 486 computers are stacked in dusty racks outside with signs that say
> > "make an offer".
> > 
> > Granted, I live in Silicon Valley, but a little web shopping can get you the
> > same thing. In fact, my two favorite surplus stores, Halted Specialties and
> > Weird Stuff Warehouse, both sell on the internet as well, and their labeling
> > about whether stuff has been tested is honest. Just buy some old junk
> > machine for $100 and skip the messy dual-boot!
> > 
> > 
> > --Debee
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Speakup mailing list
> > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> > 
> > 
> 
> -- 
> HolmesGrown Solutions
> The best solutions for the best price!
> http://ld.net/?holmesgrown
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>